Kizzy Ann Stamps (18 page)
Authors: Jeri Watts
The Good Ole Girls writing group in Lexington, Virginia, heard an early draft and liked it. That inspired me to keep writing when I might have just put it aside.
My very bestest friend, Gay Lynn Van Vleck, who is an incredible writer, has been a support to me for so many years. Thank you for believing in me some years when I didn’t believe in myself. And her family, Bill and Jack, are as dear as the day is long!
Thanks to very helpful readers Dr. Loretta Jones, Deidre Washington, and Ginny Shank.
To all the readers, editors, helpers, and friendly voices at Candlewick Press — Kate Fletcher, Hilary Van Dusen, Andrea Tompa, Carter Hasegawa, Nikki Bruno Clapper, Hannah Mahoney, and, of course, my first and most important editor, the incomparable Liz Bicknell — where would I be without all of you? I wish I could wrap you all in a hug. Thank you, thank you, for bringing my Kizzy Ann to the page with spunk and fire and for giving her and Shag a home at Candlewick, the best publisher in the world!
I’d also like to thank the James River Writers Organization; it was at their annual conference where I was able to make contact with Candlewick, and I am most grateful.
And finally, and most important, I thank my family. The family I grew up in, the family that surrounded me as I wrote this book, and the family that grew away from me, spreading out in their own places in the world — all of them very kindly believing in me still and supporting me in their own way. I needed them, and they answered, maybe without even knowing. So, to Chandler and Daryl; Mary Carson and Gavin; Jill, Greg, Gretchen, and Katie — I thank you for support you may never have known you gave. And Chuck . . . well, you always knew. And I thank you now and forever.
JERI WATTS
worked as a public-school teacher for twenty-seven years before becoming a professor. She has written numerous short stories, as well as
Keepers,
a picture book.
Kizzy Ann Stamps
is her first middle-grade novel. About the inspiration behind it, she says, “My first six years, in the early sixties, were spent on a farm in Bedford County, Virginia, which was, of course, part of the inspiration for Kizzy Ann. I was excited to be a part of integration, seeing people strive for the best in themselves and others and learning to look at things from a different point of view — that was an important part of the humanity of integration, to think outside yourself.” Jeri Watts lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, with her husband.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2012 by Jeri Watts
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012938739
ISBN 978-0-7636-5895-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7636-6200-4 (electronic)
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Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
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